F.

REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF PROVINCE OF SORSOGON FOR FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1903.

SIR: I have the honor to make the following report pertaining to the work in my charge as provincial supervisor of the province of Sorsogon. I have found it very difficult to obtain all the desired data, owing to the fact that for six months prior to my assignment to this station the province was without a supervisor:

BUILDINGS.

In the absence of a provincial jail work was begun on a new jail in July, 1902. All work was done with prison labor, one American foreman being in charge. Barring the flooring and fixtures, all lumber was purchased in the local market. All truss timbers were sawed by prisoners. Posts were embedded in walls of rubble, mixed with mortar of one-half cement and one-half lime. The walls have a thickness of 70 centimeters and are 4 meters high, having a total of 160 cubic meters of material above surface. The building has a galvanized-iron roof of 500 sheets. The floor consists of matched Oregon pine. The total expense of labor amounted to $945, local currency, consisting in pay of foremen and guards. The cost of material aggregated $2,040.50 in local currency.

SURVEYS.

At the request of the insular purchasing agent a survey of Magallanes and harbor was made in February, 1903, for the purpose of determining the feasibility of establishing a coaling station at that point. Sufficient soundings in the harbor and rod readings on shore were taken to determine 1 meter contour intervals. The work had an apparent closing error of 1:600. The map was forwarded to the executive secretary at the request of the provincial governor. The total cost of the field work was $106, local currency.

A survey was also made of the coast and road between Donsol and Pilar. Sufficient data was taken to locate the road with relation to the coast line and fixing the location of the two pueblos by a closed polygon. Elevations were determined for a profile of the road. The notes have not been reduced and platted. Total cost of field work $80.75, local currency.

ROADS.

Having about 300 men in custody in July, 1902, and with no assurance of safety beyond the inhabited portion of the capital of the province, the provincial board agreed to put all of this labor on the streets of Sorsogon. A bed of unscreened gravel was deposited in all the main streets, a total length of 14 kilometers, with an average depth of 70 centimeters. Having no means of transportation, the work was greatly retarded. It was finally finished in January. The cost of labor, including guards and foremen, amounted to $5,116.50, local currency. The cost of material was but $147.09, local currency.

The roads proper of the province have received little attention to date and are in dire need of repairs, the last road work having been done in 1896. The SorsogonBacon road bears evidence of having been in good condition at one time, but at present one-half of the road is next to impassable during the rainy season. Every effort is being made to repair the road by putting in a gravel bed 30 centimeters in depth. One and one-half kilometers have been repaired to date, leaving about 6 kilometers to be repaired. The road is of primary importance.

The Sorsogon-Gubat road is the only means of communication with the pueblos on the southeast coast. Excepting 2 kilometers which pass through a swamp, the road is well graded generally, only requiring a substantial bed. This it has never had. No work has been done on this road to date.

The roadbed from Gubat to Bulusan by way of Barcelona is in good condition. Owing to its proximity to the coast an excellent roadbed of gravel can be made at small expense. The road has a zero grade the entire length, barring a distance of about two kilometers. The road is important owing to the fact that both Bulusan and Barcelona are closed ports and depend upon the open port of Gubat for market. The trail from Bulusan to Santa Magdalena passes through a very mountainous country, and its improvement can not be considered at present.

WAR 1903-VOL 7—17

The Bulusan-Yrocin has some bad grades, which can not be avoided. The road is of secondary importance.

Yrocin being an inland town, depends upon Bulan for a market, making the Yrocin-Bulan road important as a commercial way. Though a fair road at one time the bed is now out of repair to such an extent that the road is impassable during the rainy season. The Bulan portion is being repaired by ditching on both sides and raising the center. More extensive repairs are necessary to make a substantial roadbed, which can not be made for want of funds.

The trail from Yrocin to Matnog, though important, can not be improved at present, requiring too heavy work. The Matnog end is in a fair condition, the difficulty being in the Yrocin territory.

Yrocin and Juban are connected by a trail that could be developed into a firstclass highway at a comparatively small expense. This is one of the propositions under consideration by the provincial board. It would open up the central portion of the province for communication with the capital.

The two Juban roads, one leading to the Yrocin River and one to the main landing, are being repaired by putting in a good substantial gravel-bed. The work to date has consisted largely in the concentration of material which is progressing slowly for want of transportation. Business interests of Juban are always affected by the condition of these two roads.

The Juban-Casiguran road is in good condition. During the rainy season the road becomes soggy in places, but those are minor repairs that may have been made by the municipalities.

The Donsol-Pilar road is in need of extensive repairs. Five kilometers have been graded and cleared to date. Three out of the 5 kilometers have a sandy soil, and need no rock bed. Beyond that the entire way requires grading and a rock bed. The work is progressing as well as could be expected."

Owing to the enormous amount of hemp grown in all parts of the province, the repair of most of the roads mentioned is an urgent necessity. With the roads in their present condition, little is done in the hemp fields during the four months of rainy season in each year.

BRIDGES.

In the province few bridges remain, owing to the ravages of war and negligence in maintaining repairs.

Sorsogon bridge, on the Sorsogon-Bacon road, is a triple arch stone bridge, slightly out of repair in the matter of the undermining of one of the piers. These repairs have been provided for and will be made at once.

San Roque culverts, three culverts on the Sorsogon-Bacon road, in the vicinity of the barrio San Roque, reconstruction needed. These repairs will be made in the near future.

Buhuatan bridge, on the Sorsogon-Gubat road, has been repaired within the last year. Both the abutments and pier had been undermined to such an extent that the entire structure has settled about 3 inches. It is a double-arch masonry bridge. The work was let by contract with only fair results, there being no supervisor in the province at the time to inspect the work.

Two bridges, one 3-meter span, and one 6-meter span, and three culverts are entirely out on the Sorsogon-Gubat road.

Fifteen bridges on the Gubat-Bulusan road have been completely wrecked. The same is true of 17 bridges on the Yrocin-Bulan road. Juban bridge, on the JubinYrocin road, will be well underway in another month. It will be a 2-meter span concrete arch bridge.

The Casiguran bridge, on the Juban-Casiguran road and in the suburbs of Casiguran, is a proposed 8-meter reinforced concrete arch. One abutment has been completed and work on the other is progressing nicely. I expect to complete it in September. Donsol-Pilar bridge. This bridge is an 85-meter span, with the plans for concrete abutments and piers and wooden truss. The two abutments have been completed and the work on the five piers is progressing nicely. The lumber cut for use on the work is yacal and guijo. All the work is being done by the concentration labor of Donsol. The plans are also for a cover over the wooden truss to protect it from exposure to all kinds of weather.

I have observed that entirely wooden bridges, though built of the best native wood, do not last longer than from four to eight years. On the other hand, concrete abutments and wooden truss with cover will preserve well for twenty years, provided the best timber is used. However, in my opinion concrete arch bridges should be built wherever possible, giving the greatest degree of satisfaction.

PROPOSED WORK.

During the next fiscal year every effort will be made to, first, complete the Sorsogon-Bacon road repairs and bridge work; second, to construct the road and bridges from Sorsogon to Gubat, Barcelona, and Bulusan; third, to open up a highway from Juban to Yrocin and at the same time repair the Yrocin-Bulan road. This work will be done if funds are found available. When these roads are once constructed they can readily be maintained in repair by the province.

LABOR.

The problem of securing sufficient help has interfered to a great extent with the progress of all work in the province. Up to June, 1903, men could not be secured at a daily wage of $1.50 local currency. The great demand for labor in the hemp fields accounted for this. The situation now is temporarily relieved by the influx of reconcentrados from Albay Province. The wages paid to men on public works range from 70 cents per day in Donsol, where concentration is effective, to $1.50 per day in other parts of the province.

TRANSPORTATION.

It is estimated that during the last two years 90 per cent of the draft animals of the province died from disease. This places any kind of draft animal at a premium, and public work suffers accordingly. In some parts of the province carabaos can not be hired at any price, while in other portions $2 per day is the minimum scale. The supervisor's force of permanent employees consists of a clerk, 2 carpenters, 1 rodman, 1 blacksmith, 2 drivers and 3 foremen. This force is found necessary to look after the loading and unloading of Government cargo, keeping the property in repairs, supplying the municipalities on requisition, and taking the initiative in the inauguration of new work.

Very respectfully submitted.

Mr. J. W. BEARDSLEY,

E. J. WESTERHOUSE,
Provincial Supervisor.

Consulting Engineer to the Commission.

REPORT OF ENGINEER IN CHARGE OF BENGUET ROAD.

BUREAU OF ENGINEERING,

OFFICE OF THE CONSULTING ENGINEER TO THE COMMISSION,

Manila, P. I., September 28, 1903.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a report upon the Benguet-road work

for the fiscal year 1903:

Number of cubic yards of stone crushed (and about 4 miles laid and rolled)

6, 740

The above-stated amounts are in local currency. Unfortunately the cholera epidemic reached our camps about the beginning of the year, causing the death of some 30 natives and 5 Americans before the line was cleared. The native laborers at once left the work, and by the middle of July all Americans, except the office force, were laid off and work suspended.

It was not possible to obtain labor again after this suspension until the middle of September, when a small force was obtained, various repairs made of damage suffered during the rainy season, and by the 1st of October a gang of some 1,200 men were at work, permitting the continuation of plans outlined for progress ahead, and by whose aid we were enabled to open a good portion of new road in advance.

The prospect at this time seemed encouraging for a number of laborers; men were apparently desirous of work after the inaction due to the cholera season, and during the month of October very good progress was made.

In November, however, the gangs fell away as usual until about two weeks before Christmas, work was practically suspended again, and not until the latter part of January was it possible to secure more than 300 men, the general average for the month being 270.

In an attempt to overcome this condition of affairs and to obtain sufficient labor to properly organize some work gangs, I had agents, both Americans and Filipinos, traveling day by day throughout the provinces, from Pangasinan to Ilocos Norte, seeking laborers. These men proceeded from the governors of provinces to presidentes, to headmen of barrios, to the men themselves. They told of the work, the wages, and treatment; they offered to escort the men, and subsist them while traveling to the work, and using all persuasion in their power, assisted to some extent by provincial officials, met with but little success, as their persuasive powers were not sufficiently great to overcome, in the native mind, the deeply rooted prejudice toward unnecessary exertion.

It was found in some of the northern provinces that the food supply was short, the villages were overflowing with able-bodied men, no work to do, and no money; yet rather than relieve the community of the necessity of their support by working here for a few weeks, and at the same time earning good wages and obtaining subsistence, these men have preferred to lie idle in a state of semistarvation.

The situation was much the same in each province; villages full of men, rice harvested, no apparent work to do, and none sought. Promises were always plentiful by presidentes and headmen that a certain number of laborers would be furnished, yet none, or but few, would appear, and so, despite agents, letters, and personal appeals to the sources from which our labor is drawn, no result was obtained, and the work has been suffered to drag along, so crippled by constant lack of labor as to make the most unsatisfactory progress, costing as well considerably more than would have been necessary by having a steady regular supply of sufficient labor to properly distribute among the various camps, and so allow an economical organization of office and administrative forces.

Labor. After three years' constant observation of the Filipino as a laborer, I have been unable to discover that chord to his nature which, if played upon, would excite within him an interest in his work and cause him to apply himself with diligence and intelligence to its performance. The most deplorable quality, I should say, to the native as a laborer is his absolute and utter indifference to any work to which he may be assigned. During the hours through which he is supposed to labor the average native performs certain mechanical motions with the tool which may be assigned to him, these motions being his concession to the taskmaster, who has imposed upon him a week's labor, and during the performance of which he awaits alone with a perfect stoicism the termination of the day, endeavoring never to work with the accomplishment of a purpose in view, but concerned only with the passing of the hour, knowing that he will be forced to make so many certain motions with the pick or shovel or bar, which he does with painful regularity, cheerful in the belief of his foreman's deception, confident in his own immunity from any undue exertion, and indifferent to the accomplishment of work for such labor as he puts forth.

In handling a pick the native will raise it in the air, allow it to drop by its own weight, striking a glancing, infinitesimal blow, and so continue picking gently here

and there until observed by the American foreman, who will take the pick, deliver a few sturdy well-directed blows, thereby moving more material than the native has been able to loosen in an hour; the foreman leaving him and proceeding to another part of the gang to give the same object lesson, will return to discover his first man gently tapping at the hillside, and stolidly indifferent as to where his pick falls. Again with a shovel he places the blade with the most deliberate care in such loose dirt as he can find, gathers a small portion on the end of the shovel, turns slowly and deliberately and, if the dump be only 6 feet from him, walks to the extreme edge and then deposits the dirt with great care and walks slowly back for another small portion of a shovelful. Because of these traits it becomes necessary to have a white foreman for every 40 or 50 natives, and it is his continual care to see that they take full shovels of dirt, throw it, if the dump is not over 6 feet, instead of walking to the dump, that they pick with some strength and intelligence as to what they are trying to perform, and that they move in general with some life and spirit. Constant object lessons are given them daily by the foremen as to how the work should be done, but, notwithstanding all lessons, the eye of the foreman is no sooner removed from one part of the gang than they at once revert to their own methods.

I believe it to be possible to eventually train them to a higher state of efficiency, providing the same man would stay on the work for some length of time. As each succeeding week, however, sees new men enter and the departure of the gang working before, it is manifestly most difficult to train them, especially as one and all are totally without interest in their work, and only waiting for the week to end. It has frequently occurred when, from the nature of the work, a foreman would have his gang separated by a head or slope or point of rock, that the portion of the gang not under his immediate observation would post an outlook while one and all would cease further attempt at work. When the foreman would walk in their direction timely warning would be given, and as he stepped around the point every man would be industriously at work.

The Filipino laborer seems to have in general but little regard for the money paid him, and to not care whether he receives a full week's pay or is cut for delinquencies during the week. A laborer thus indifferent as to the price of his wage, caring naught for his position, or the amount of money the position pays, and with no interest in his work, leaves one with but little hope for his future improvement. His greatest joy would be to lose his position, and his least sorrow the cut of his weekly wage. In general terms the native laborer has proved himself on this work to be idle, shiftless, and stolidly indifferent; approaching his work with no degree of intelligence or judgment, of a deceptive and treacherous character, wantonly careless and frequently maliciously destructive; uninterested in and indifferent to his work, unwilling to learn and impossible to teach. He refuses to work longer than one week at a time, and each successive week sees new men come in while the old return to their pueblo; I have known men to come long distances-several days' travelarrive on their work Friday, make a full day Saturday, and after payment depart that night with the others after having worked one day, and perhaps traveled three or four to reach here.

If a number of natives are sent as packers to bring in timber, grass or supplies and American must be sent with them, or, if they have simply a Filipino capataz, they will fail to return until so close to the quitting hour that they can be put at nothing else, and yet not so late as to miss their daily issue of rice.

Although much time and pains has been taken to teach the natives proper methods of work, his efficiency is, if anything less to-day than two years ago, since he seems to have attained of a late a certain independence of spirit whereby he refuses to work at any price, while in previous times he would do so, stubbornly and unwillingly though it may be, but nevertheless work he would do of a certain nature.

The Igorrote, though disinclined to present himself for labor, and not as a rule seeking work, still when once he goes at it he makes a fairly good worker. He is cheerful and happy by nature, works with judgment and discretion, putting life and energy into each stroke, and can be trusted out of sight of an American foreman and still continue his work. He never betrays a trust imposed upon him, and, while here and there are a few who do not come up to the general standard, the majority have been found faithful and industrious, their worst point being an unwillingness to remain any very long period on the works without returning to the villages for a week or two.

The Igorrote in efficiency is worth about three Filipinos; the cheerfulness and intelligence with which he goes at his work is in strong contrast to the stupidity and apathy of the Filipino, and makes at the same time a strong bond of feeling between them and their foremen, so that an easier and more friendly relation is possible